Toronto, Canada, 2006. A few months after the worst year of the Iraq war. Gabriel Navarro splits his time between his job slinging ink at the Atlantis Ink tattoo parlor, and working on his master’s degree in fine art. Gabe is twenty-two, sure of his beliefs and his artistic integrity, and na?ve enough to think he’ll never have to compromise. And then one night Jake MacLean walks into the shop and changes everything. Jake Maclean is twenty-eight and a veteran American Army pilot. He's been staying with his ex-pat sister in Toronto while he tries to get his life in order. The problem is, he can't. After his disastrous final mission in Iraq, he's overcome with anger and survivor’s guilt, trapped in a losing battle to atone for a failure he’s sure can never be forgiven. Left without hope, he decides to have his memory of the mission tattooed on his back, with the condemning words: God Will Judge Me. He doesn't expect to fall for the tattoo artist. Gabe falls just as quickly and deeply for Jake, though Jake's reluctance to talk about what happened frustrates and worries him. Gabe knows Jake isn't doing well, but accepting Jake’s claims that he's "fine" is far easier than dealing with the frightening truth. But soon it’s horribly clear Jake can’t control his panic attacks or flashes of violence, and he's getting worse. If Gabe can’t help him face his demons, Jake is headed for a crash -- and there’s every chance he’ll take Gabriel down with him.

Black Hawk Tattoo

“Stop it. Mommy has a headache,” Alice said to Molly. “Sorry, sweetie, but we had pizza on Saturday, remember? Too much of that and I’ll be big as a house.” She looked at Jake. “I think I’ve got enough stuff for meatloaf. That all right?”


“Sure.” Jake would have preferred just about anything else, but he didn’t want to deal with Alice’s annoyed sighing and insistence that she didn’t mind while making it really, really obvious that she did. “Do you want help?”


“Nooooo!” Molly grabbed Jake’s hand and started tugging. “You need to help me! Princess Priscilla isn’t even at the Pink Palace yet!”


Jake looked imploringly at his sister. “I don’t mind helping you, really.”


Alice smiled. “Oh no, that’s just fine. You go have fun with the Purple Ponies. I’ll call you when it’s ready.”


“Yayyyyy!” Molly jumped up and down again.


Alice completely missed the glare he shot her by going into the kitchen, but Jake could still hear her laughing.


Chapter 39